Ranking
by Kronosheaven
Summary: Short story based on 'Money and Intelligence'. Jeremy and his friend Jake live in the world where everyone is based on rank. Jake decides to confess to his love by selling his mind to the girl he likes... But what are the consequences? -Complete-


A/N: I just wrote this for fun, 'cause I loved the story of 'Money and Intelligence' from Bakuman, LOL. Ohba and Obata are awesome, as usual (:

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Ranking

Everyone has a place in life.

You might be one of those successful people, on top of the social ladder.

Or you might be one of those people at the bottom.

What's the definition of successful? How would you know that you're not as good as the person next to you?

It's because of your rank - how you compare to other people.

Either way, you're part of the overall mass that lives in the place we know as Earth.

Nowadays, everyone has a rank - several, in fact, including social behavior, physical strength, appearance... but most importantly, intelligence. Intelligence will get you anywhere in this world. It's what everyone looks for - people who value appearance and physical strength are considered shallow and tend to have a low IQ anyways. Intelligence can be bought, of course. Why else would the ranking change constantly?

Put simply, it's like a game. You want to buy from the most intelligent and mentally strong, to build up your own intelligence. The mind you buy would be accessible to you, and you can understand the person on a whole new level - from what they know, their opinions about things, what decisions they would make, etc, as long as you buy it from them. You would sell your own mind too, or how else would you have the money? But you'd want to sell to the dumbest people possible, as you wouldn't want other people to use your mind and excel you in your ranking.

In general, you wouldn't ever show your mind to someone in a higher position than you. Of course, there are also people that you would never sell to - the people you dislike, for one. You were allowed to block these people from ever even trying to buy your mind.

The only people you can't block, is the Government, the one who controls all the rankings in the first place. Only the highest ranking people are allowed into the Government. Superior in ever aspect, they rule as the dictators of the earth, controlling anything that can be controlled - that is, everything. They know what is happening in the world, as all your thoughts are read, every single thought, as you go to sleep each night. They couldn't be bothered to solve minor problems - so what if a student is bullying another student, so what if an single parent with two children is going to suicide the next night? The main thing they care about is conspiracies, major plans thought by the intelligent ones that will disrupt the system. You wouldn't have to be worried about being monitored if you were ranked low - even if you were the person that hated the government more than anyone else, they would not pay attention to you, due to the fact that you wouldn't have the intelligence and the ability to carry out a plan.

So really, it's us who have the best chance of over throwing the Government.

Us, the lowest ranking people.

I still remember the day that Jake told me about his plan.

'Jeremy?'  
'Oh, hey. Yo, come over here and help me on my homework, Davis is such a pain in the a-'  
'Can I talk to you?'

We rarely had serious talks. I shot upright on my bunk and looked at him expectantly.

'Sure, whazssupp?'  
'Well...' he walked over to my bed and sat down, 'You know who I like, right?'  
'Vanessa? Psh, yeah, of course I do!' I teased him, laughing at his innocent look, 'What, thinking of confessing?'

'Wai-what? How do you know?' His look of shock was too funny, I just had to laugh.  
'Dude, half class - no, make that everyone except for Vanessa and her lil' group knows about it - I'm not kidding, go phone anyone and they'll know who you like, 100% dead accuracy'  
'Oh my god.' He sighed and fell backwards onto my bed. 'Oh my freaking god. My life is OVER. I'm gonna freaking KILL myself.'  
'Calm down man, calm down. It's not a big deal, ha. Most of us has known for a while now, so quit freaking, it's not gonna help anyways.'

When he didn't reply, I asked again, 'How 'bout some homework help? You know how much of a jerk Mr. Davis can be with-'

'No, listen to me for a while more.' He continued to stare blankly at the boards of the bunk on top of mine - his own bed, really. It must have been a familiar sight to him, seeing that I often stole his bunk from him when we were merely little kids living alone in an orphanage.

'Yeah, what? Spit it out. You really gonna confess?'  
'I'm thinking of selling my brain to her.'

'... Wha, wha.. whoa. What?' I looked at him with a similar blank stare, however, mine was more due to shock. 'So, you're gonna... what the hell?'

'Sell my mind to her, that's what. Isn't that simple enough?'

'What the hell man, how's that gonna work? Why the hell would you sell your brain to someone that's way above your level? If you haven't noticed, shes not gonna buy-'

'I'll pay her to buy my brain! Think about it, isn't it the perfect idea?'

'Wait, why the hell would she buy your brain though? I knew it!' I ranted crazily, 'You _are_ delusional. I should have known it from that time that you convinced me to-'

'That's not the point! This way, she'll know exactly how much I love her!' Jake finally shouted in exasperation to get me to understand. 'Don't you see? Once she realizes that I love her this much, she'll understand that I'm not like those other guys...'

Oh god, all of this for a girl? Wow.

I fell backwards into the bed next to Jake. Sighing and rolling over until I reached the end the bed, I thought about the absurdity of his plan.

'So... what do you think?' Jake broke the awkward silence with his question.  
'Actually... maybe. I think... if you're willing to take the chances with it, then go for it, I guess...'  
'Seriously, Jeremy? You mean it?' Jake jumped up and gave me a hug.

'Dude, this is the most awkward position possible. You do realize I'm still lying down on the bed and you're hugging me like some girl, aren't you?'

'Whatever. Just... Thanks Jeremy. Thank you so much.'

A week later, Jake managed to convince Vanessa to buy his mind. The night before he went to sleep, I still remember the look of excitement and nervousness on his face - he thought that that night would finally be the night that she realized how much he really, really loved her.

Too bad she didn't care about that. That bitch.

She didn't care at all about how much Jake loved her, just the fact that his rankings weren't good enough for her.

That he wasn't smart enough for her, that he wouldn't be able to ever give her the life she wanted.

So really, that night after he finally sold his brain to her was the last night that I saw him. Alive, at least.

It's been a few months since that day. I haven't bothered to keep track of time. I dropped out of high school - it wasn't really mandatory after the first year anyways, so who cares? I spent most of my time working my ass off, trying to find enough money to survive, since now that I dropped out of school and I was of legal age, they wouldn't accept me into the orphanage anymore. The other half of the time was spent sleeping or finding a place to sleep.

Every single moment I was awake though, I spent thinking.

Thinking of why this all happened. Why Jake killed himself, why she rejected him, why our world is the way it is.

And it all came down to the Government. The ranking system.

I don't really understand how the whole thing works. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some genius who's going to be able to infiltrate the whole system and attack the Government from the inside. That's impossible for me.

But if only I could find the person that can. Then maybe I could do something about it. Maybe, just maybe, we could change the world.

'Don't be a brat, kid. Who's gonna support you in going against the government?' the old man glared at me.

I was sitting down in an alleyway which I had found an area safe enough against the wind and rain. Although it wasn't located in the safest place - a bit too close to the red light district for my liking - it was hidden enough to be unnoticed by people passing by. I had found out that I wasn't the only one living there though, it turned out that the old man had been there a long time before I had. Luckily, after explaining my predicament, he liked me enough to allow me to stay.

And I really mean lucky - this old man is a lot tougher than he looks or sounds. I found that out after a bunch of drunks came along here. That must have been one of the scariest and awesome moments of my life, watching an old man beat up four wasted and completely insane men. Hilarious, really.

Back to the present though...

'There's no one who's gonna team up with a lil' brat like you, no matter how passionate you are about your cause.'

'How'd you know? There's probably thousands of people who hate the Government - I mean, think of all the problems that the Government ignores. Everybody's effected by it.'

'Yeah, but who's strong and smart enough to do it? You aren't, that's for sure,' the old man scoffed at me again before taking a drink out of a bottle of water I bought to share with him. 'Cause seriously, think about it -'

'I have. More than you have, at the very least.'

He hit me on the head with a rolled up roll of today's newspaper I stole from someone's front lawn.

'Brats shouldn't interrupt if they have nothing important to say. Now listen, there's not going to be anyone smart who's willing to work against the Government. In fact, you do realize all the smart ones are going to be working _for_ the Government, don't you?'

I haven't thought of that. I hung my head in shame as I took in that thought, shocked at how stupid I could have been.

Really, really stupid.

Of course.  
It was hopeless after all.

Wait a minute.

'What if I find someone in the Government who's willing to work with me then? There's probably someone out there who works for the Government and hates them, can't there be?'

'Sure, and you expect them to be alive? Keep dreaming, kid.'

A few seasons passed, and I moved away from the alleyway after the old man died. I was still living on the streets, and I was still thinking of absurd plans to take down the Government. That's when I met Kyle.

I met him during one of my part time jobs that I hadn't managed to be fired from yet, moving equipment and boxes of junk for a thrift-shop. He caught my attention immediately, not necessarily in a bad way - his aura of elegance, the way he moved, his clothes wrapping around him perfectly, defining his slim build and subtle muscles... It made me want to watch him forever.

He noticed me watching him before I even realized I was.  
He smiled. I felt a blush coming over my face.  
He walked over to me. I felt my heart pick up it's pace.  
He turned the corner and left the store. I looked away, shocked at my own behavior. What the hell just happened?

Secretly, I longed for him to come back to the store for me to observe him again. He was an interesting character, with his unusual outfit and his perfectly styled hair. He looked like the best friend, the older brother I would never have. The kind of guy anybody would want to be, the kind of person you idolized and wished to get near to, but in your heart you knew that you would have no chance to even be within his league.

That night, as I went to sleep, I spent my time searching frantically for him. For obvious reasons, I skipped to the top, seeing there was no way a guy like him would be even close to the bottom rankings. Going down the list for about 15 minutes, I finally found him.

First Name: Kyle

Surname: *Access Denied*

Gender : Male

and under that,

Access to further information denied.

Denied? In this world, denied could mean two things - he had blocked the general public from his profile, or that he worked for the Government. In this case, probably both. Either way, that meant he was extremely intelligent. And out of my league to associate myself with him.

For once, I think I made have understood why Jake killed himself.

Anyhow, I spent most of the days following that encounter trying to reach Kyle - maybe I thought that somehow, he would understand me, and that he might be the answer to my problems and would help me avenge Jake. I looked up his ranking on the list everyday, hoping that maybe he would allow access to his profile. No such luck of course.

After one extremely tiring day at work, I came 'home' to my shelter and found him sitting on my bed, a bag of takeout placed on the cardboard box I used as a table.

I stared in shock. I had to be dreaming. Why was he here? I blinked again, unable to process the fact that he, Kyle. Was sitting. Right. In front. Of. Me.

My heart raced, my mind whirled, my emotions were beating myself up inside.

'Sit down, Jeremy.'

His voice. It was melodic, smooth and clear as a river. I sat immediately in the chair across from him.

'You're probably wondering what I'm here for,' he looked into my eyes and I felt my blush coming up again, my ears growing red. 'I know you've been trying to contact me, and so I've been... well, following you too. I came to see what was the matter.'

Oh my god. I didn't know that he could find out who views his ranking. Probably another advantage the Government had over us. I would have never looked up his name so often if I had knew that.

'So... you've been following me too? I... I mean, not that I mind, but...' Oh god. Fail. I'm going to freaking kill myself. Why the hell did I just say that?

He laughed, the godly sound echoed in my ears and I let the feeling wash over me. 'Yeah, I guess you can say that,' he admitted. 'But really, what did you want from me though?'

I began to tell him everything. Jake, his death, dropping out of school, meeting the old man and my thoughts of overthrowing the Government. As I let everything pour out of me, I felt more and more relieved of my stress. Ever since Jake died, I've never felt truly secure in opening up my heart to someone like this before - I hadn't told the old man all my problems. But to Kyle, I told him everything. For some reason, I trusted him.

'You do realize, in telling me all of this, that I do work for the Government, do you?' he hesitantly said as I finished my story after an hour or so.

I frowned. 'Yes, of course. I knew it all along,' I gave him a blank look. 'So what if?'

'Well... really, I would have to... er, kill you right now. Since you want to go against the Government and all.'

I smiled. 'Well, I trust you not to kill me. Is that okay?'

'Okay.' His smile was more like a grimace, but I took no notice.

'So, will you work with me? I mean like, do you think you can?' I was so nervous, my hands were sweating. I obviously didn't want to get Kyle in trouble. Even though his rank was so high, it didn't mean that the Government wouldn't kill him.

'Don't worry, I'll be okay,' he flashed me that slight smile that melted my heart again.

'Sure, if you say so...' I managed to mumble.

'Anyways, why don't you just eat first? It looks as if you haven't had a decent meal in a while, ha..' Kyle gestured towards the takeout he must have brought with him. Inside, I was secretly joyful that he was such a thoughtful and caring person.

I opened the box, and saw my favorite meal, still warm. Looking up at Kyle with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, I dug into my meal without a second thought.

Thanks Jake. You know, at least I died happy.

Kyle stepped outside, into the fresh air. It had been a long time since the Government had sent him out on a specific mission. Usually it was just to think, learn and live, so that he'd gain more intelligence for the Government. This time though, the Government probably recognized that he'd have the highest chance of getting rid of this nuisance to society.

Nuisance, was he?

Kyle wrenched his heart away from the body of the boy that lay on the makeshift bed.

Sorry, he thought in his mind, you were just too naive.

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The end, LOL.  
This is just a short story, nothing more (:  
And yes... Jeremy is gay for Kyle ._.  
Just in case you couldn't tell, haha.


End file.
